Clarke, Lesia & Gumiran, Heather. Cognitive decision-making and perceived confidence of anesthesia providers: impact on patient safety. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-55s1-x091
DescriptionPurpose of Project
Cognitive errors contribute to erroneous diagnoses. The use of metacognitive aids can help in decreasing the non-rational factors associated with cognitive errors. This study was aimed at helping anesthesia providers become aware of the decision-making style that they identify with and to provide them with a metacognitive aid that will help to maintain rational thinking.
Methodology
Anesthesiologists (n = 3), Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) (n= 21), and Resident Registered Nurse Anesthetists (RRNA) (n= 42) participated in this study. A questionnaire, with the decision styles scale, was given via Qualtrics, followed by an educational lecture on the types of decision-making processes and common cognitive errors existing in anesthesia practice. Following the lecture, a badge buddy with a metacognitive aid, TWED checklist, was made available to each participant.
Results
The Chi-Squared Test was used to determine any association between confidence levels and type of provider. Only 1 of 4 questions produced statistically significant data (p > 0.1).
Implications for Practice
Utilization of metacognitive aids will result in an increase of awareness of possible cognitive errors. From this study, providers were made aware of the non-rational factors that can potentially negatively impact patient safety throughout the perioperative period and methods that can be used to mitigate these factors.